Levasseur Earns Goalie of the Month Honors

The league announced today that Jean-Philippe Levasseur has been named the Goalie of the Month for November.

This is Levasseur's second honor of the season, as he was also named Goalie of the Week on Nov. 9 for his efforts in two straight wins over the Arizona Sundogs the weekend prior to that vote.

Levasseur has only one regulation loss so far this season and has been simply brilliant for the Bucks, who are lucky enough to have him on lone from the Anaheim Ducks due to their lack of AHL affiliate (and subsequent lack of roster space for goalies within the organization) this season.

When he arrived here, Levasseur said he was grateful to have the opportunity to be a No. 1 goalie, which he may not have had if he had stayed with the Ducks' ECHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors.

He has certainly taken advantage of that opportunity, and Coach Ruskowski credits him with being the driving force behind many of the Bucks' wins this season.

"He’s been a big success, no question," Ruskowski said. "He’s been a huge, huge, huge factor in us having won 10 games. He’s the guy that’s really been the backbone and force behind us winning."

Ruskowski also noted that Levasseur has been the one to "cover up" for a lot of mistakes by the players in front of him, and he has definitely been key to the Bucks managing an 85.57 penalty kill percentage.

Levasseur started eight games in November, earning an 8-1-1 record and posting a goals-against average of 2.29 and save percentage of .919.

Overall this season, he is 9-1-2 (tied for second in the league in wins) with a GAA of 2.44 (third in the league) and save percentage of .913 (seventh in the league).

He is also pretty remarkable in shootouts, which came in handy for the Bucks during that home stretch of shootout games, having stopped 16 of 18 shootout shots he's faced.

Levasseur has yet to earn a shutout this season, but I'm pretty sure most of us can agree that isn't really his fault.

And, not that this is a stat that matters, but Levasseur also has an assist this season.